John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 129 - Momentary Lapse of Reason

"But you just said that you can do anything," Marlena sat back feeling more than a little aggrieved at his refusal to help in this situation.

"The Q can do anything under normal circumstances," Eugene said carefully, "but these aren't normal circumstances."

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded angrily. "Can you, or can't you do *anything*?"

"I can, but there's something you don't know Marlena," he could see no other option but to tell her the truth. If only to make her realize that she needed his protection. "About Stefano."

"What about Stefano?" she asked uneasily.

"There's a reason that he seems invincible," he bit on his lower lip, suddenly not sure that he was doing the right thing.

"What reason?" Marlena grabbed his hand, and he felt the pressure of her fingers curling around his. "Please tell me, Gene."

"You remember that I found out I was related to him when I lived here before?" he asked, aware of the warmth of the hand in his.

"Yes," she nodded, not sure she liked where this was leading.

"Well, there was more truth to it than we realized." He swallowed, wishing he didn't have to tell her this. "He used to be Q, Marlena."

"He was a Q?" she whispered, her mind reeling.

"He was, a dozen centuries ago. But he was too corrupt, and the Continuum expelled him," Q frowned. It hardly seemed fair, Stefano being expelled for all manner of corruption, while he was threatened with utter annihilation for making a couple of mistakes. "I guess we were a little more forgiving then."

"What do you mean they expelled him?" Marlena pressed.

"We stripped him of his powers and banished him to the outer reaches of the galaxy. Or so we thought." Q recounted.

"We?" Marlena's brows furrowed.

"Marlena, I'm not forty years old, or even four hundred and forty years old," Eugene knew this would blow her mind, but there was no help for it. "Q are not born, we just are. We exist in a dimension where there is no linear time. No beginning and no ending. We just are. And we have always been."

She simply stared at him. And then she blinked as she attempted to try and understand what he was telling her.

"But, you look older," she reached out and traced the lines on his forehead. "You're telling me you don't age?"

"I'm telling you that this body is simply a corporeal form I choose to appear in so you can see me," he explained gently. "When the Q sent me back, they chose to make me appear older as a human would through the passage of linear time. They felt my appearance in Salem would cause the least trouble that way."

"So, this isn't really *you*?" she dropped her hand and the furrows in her brow deepened.

"It's the me you know, and that's enough Marlena," he shook his head, "it's not really important. We're kind of getting away from the point here. All you need to understand is that Stefano was expelled. And somehow, he managed to retain some of his powers, despite what we thought."

"And he ended up here," Marlena finished for him. Suddenly it was making some warped kind of sense. The way Stefano seemed to have nine lives. The way he could escape from impossible situations. The way he could infiltrate himself and not be noticed....

"Yes," he nodded tightly. "And it seems that not only does he have some of his Q powers, but he also seems to have developed others."

"What kind of others?" Marlena wasn't sure she could process all this information. It was unbelievable and quite frightening.